


queen of stars

by m3rcut10



Category: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Genre: F/F, Fem AU, Fluff, all girls au, please enjoy!!, this is my first fic on here and my first written in a long time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 07:27:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11375442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m3rcut10/pseuds/m3rcut10
Summary: a dead poets society all girls au. essentially a lot of short scenes that aren't in the movie that I wanted to write. short, sweet, and has a happy ending! (a part two is in the works!)





	queen of stars

**Author's Note:**

> this is a fem dps au, in case you didn't read the description!! and since this is an au i can do whatever the hell i want... so nelia (neil) works out the play with her dad early on, her dad doesn’t come to the show, and she won’t die. she and tara (todd) get a happy ending at the end of this fic (and at the end of this timeline). this is the first fic i’ve written since two years ago, so sorry if i’m a bit rusty.
> 
> the characters mostly keep their names. charlie is charlie, meeks is meeks, and knox is knox. the only other name that changes is pitts, who goes by geraldine.
> 
> also i know nelia isn’t a real name but in case you’re wondering, i pronounce it “neil- ee-a”
> 
> finally, i have no idea how ancient greek works. i saw a post with this word and i got inspired so if i fudged anything with that, please let me know!! 
> 
> enjoy!! please like and comment with criticisms or compliments!!

From the moment they met, something about Nelia just drew Tara to her. Nelia was this strong, natural light. She spilled across floorboards with her deep brown hair and lounged on desks stacked high with textbooks. light freckles dotted her cheeks like hidden sun spots, and Tara wanted to find every last one. She always had the light, even on her worst days. She found her way into Tara’s every day and made it better, brighter. 

Nelia was the sun, and Tara wouldn’t imagine a minute, a day, a year, a life without her.

—

Nelia hadn’t planned to try to make good friends with her new roommate. She would be polite on the first day and then stick close to her old friends as much as possible. But after the first week with Tara, all of that flew out the window. Tara’s eyes held so much, but she let out almost nothing. Blonde-gold hair fell gently down her shoulders and she hadn’t tried but she looked like she had more worth than all the money in the world. 

Tara was quiet at first. but Nelia would help her out of her own head, little by little. Tara would come to pad softly across the wooden floors like a cat. She was always quietly there, with hidden smiles and flashing eyes. The first time Nelia coaxed a laugh out of her, hesitant but bursting out in unexpected happiness, Nelia physically felt her heart melt. 

Tara was the moon, and Nelia sought a happy, beautiful shelter in her.

—

Tara packed up her things when class ended with her thoughts racing wildly. Having to give that poem in front of all of her classmates was embarrassing. Terrible. Awful. But it felt so... freeing.

As Tara left the classroom, she found Nelia leaning against the wall by the door, waiting for her. “Hey,” Nelia said, eyes bright. “That was incredible today.” 

Tara blushed furiously and started to disagree, “N-no, I mean i j-just said whatever and-d it was bad and n-now everyone’s gonna laugh at me-”

“Tara.” Nelia gave her a critical look, but it was friendly underneath. “Iit wasn’t bad. No one laughed. You did well, you spoke beautifully, you’re good at poetry. accept the compliment.”

Tara smiled and looked at the ground as they walked together. “Alright,” she said, and when she looked up at Nelia, her eyes sparkled with happiness.

—

One day, Nelia was coming back from an unusually difficult algebra quiz, totally drained. She approached her room, ready to dramatically fling the door open and complain. As she reached for the door handle, however, she heard faint music. Confused, she opened the door and found something unexpected. Tara; with her hair up and skirt high, spinning and dancing, grinning like mad. Her face was red and her ponytail let loose wisps of gold frame her face. As the light from the hallway fell onto Tara, Nelia gasped softly, her first thought, “God, she looks beautiful.” 

Tara was still spinning until she saw Nelia. When she did, she let out a gasp and instantly froze, embarrassed to be discovered. The radio still played softly from Tara’s desk. Nelia smiled, an easy, genuine smile, and dropped her books on her desk as she closed the door with her foot. She made her way over to Tara, enjoying her flustered stammering a little too much. Nelia reassured her, “it’s okay, I really need this today,” and started dancing along to the radio. Tara smiled and slowly started dancing again, but got back into it easily with Nelia. They spun and giggled and nearly fell more than once.

 

A slow song came on, and they both felt the air between them become thicker, more heady, pink tinted. Nelia stepped closer to Tara and put her hands on Tara’s hips, blushing a bit herself. Tara put her hands on Nelia’s shoulders, falling into place, and they both rocked back and forth slowly. As the song continued, Tara cautiously wrapped her arms around Nelia’s neck, leaning in until they were only a few inches apart. Tara looked at Nelia’s lips. Nelia noticed and blushed, feeling something flutter in her stomach. 

They heard a loud rapping on the door and burst apart instantly. A teacher yelled at them to “turn down that racket.” They both caught their breath as Tara switched the radio off. They didn’t look at each other and they didn’t speak of it for the rest of the night.

—

Nelia came out from the show glowing. The Society swarmed her, shouting (Charlie), clapping (Meeks), hugging (Geraldine), and crying (Knox). Mrs. Keating kept shaking her hand over and over again, telling her “Just what an enchanting performance you gave. I’ve never seen a more stunning Puck.” The group had to make way and wait for the rest of the audience to come greet her too. As Nelia shook hands and talked to the mass of people, Tara noted that she was grinning sincerely the whole time. Even on the drive home, the smile returned often, unconciously.

 

When they got back to their dorm and Nelia went to shower, Tara stopped her. “Nelia…. I - I just wanted to say that you did really well tonight.”  Tara smiled, a bit self-consciously. She waited, expecting a verbal response, but instead received a hug from Nelia. Even though it was unexpected, it wasn't unwelcome, and Tara remembered to back after a few seconds. She smelled like stage makeup and salt mixed with Nelia’s usual scent of cinnamon and sunshine. Tara breathed it in as much as she could. 

After a minute, Nelia pulled away and smiled. “Thank you so much, Tara. It means the world that you came.” Then, she left the room and quietly clicked the door shut behind her, leaving Tara speechless and smiling. Exhausted, she quickly changed in the dark and collapsed into bed. When Nelia came back, Tara was asleep.

—

They were walking back through the woods from a DPS meeting, a few yards behind the other girls. Charlie had somehow snuck in boys and alcohol, which should have been exciting and fun. But Nelia could only watch Tara as she carefully leaned away from the guys all night and stared into her bottle of beer without drinking any. Nelia didn’t particularly like the guys either. She had thought they were cute and amusing… for about 5 minutes, and then they’d gotten grossly touchy.

They’d stumbled out together at around one in the morning, ignoring Charlie’s requests to stay. In the end, though, she wasn’t too upset. “They were really dumb. Fun, yes, but idiots. I want someone who appreciates my poetrusic, and I don’t think they have the brain cells.” Everyone laughed at that, and the tension vanished.

 

Nelia was brought back to the present by Tara’s hand accidentally brushing her own. Nelia wondered if Tara had felt the same spark she did when they'd touched, but Tara immediately drew it back as she said, “Sorry,” in a low voice.

 

In a burst of courage, Nelia reached out and took her hand again, purposefully. “Don’t be,” Nelia whispered. Tara’s hands were smaller than hers, and lightly calloused from writing so much. Nelia’s were smooth but tough, and Tara felt safer just by holding her hand. The only things in their world at that moment were their two connected hands and the sound of frozen grass crunching under their feet.

When they returned to their dorm room, Nelia set their lit flashlight on her nightstand, making the room just bright enough to not trip over something. She turned to Tara and said, “Before you go to sleep, there’s something I want to show you.” 

“Oh?” Tara said, grinning without thinking.

“Yeah. It’s this word in ancient Greek I learned recently.” Nelia moved over to her desk for a book.

“We take Latin.”

Nelia pulled out a textbook and sat on her bed, opening it to a marked page. “I know! I like to expand my knowledge, though, and I find Greek mythology fascinating. So I’ve been doing some light reading and teaching myself a little and anyway," she said, emphasizing that word, "The point is that I found this word that’s perfect for you.” She found what she was looking for and beckoned Tara over. Tara came and sat down right next to Nelia, their legs touching, both of them noticing but not saying anything. It was just light enough to see the page, and Tara strained to read the foreign words. Nelia pointed to a word on the page and said it aloud: “Astrarchē.”

“What does it mean?”

Nelia looked into Tara’s eyes, suddenly very serious and heartfelt. “Queen of stars,” she said softly.

Tara felt another smile rise to her face. “I love it.”

She leaned in closer to Nelia, so close she could feel Nelia’s breath on her face. “Are you drunk?”

“No,” said Nelia. and then, warily, “Are you?”

“No, I’m not either.”

“Good,” Nelia said, and then Tara kissed her.

Nelia tasted like she smelled, the cinnamon and sun that surrounded her. Nelia brought her hand up to Tara’s cheek while they kissed. She kept it there as she slowly pulled away a few inches. “You taste like… I don’t know. Everything good. Like the sky,” she said, and then laughed. “Sorry, that doesn’t make sense."

Tara shook her head lightly. “No, I understand.” She paused, starting to grin. “I am the queen of stars, after all.” Nelia smiled and leaned in to kiss her again. Tara felt Nelia’s smile through the kiss and couldn’t help but smile too. 

They shifted to both lie down on Nelia’s bed meant for one person. It was tight, but neither of them minded too much. They just looked at each other, floating in the dim ambiguity of the late, late night until they fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! 
> 
> and thanks especially to @femdeadpoets on tumblr for encouraging me to finish this. they have an amazing blog and if you like dps you should check it out!! 
> 
> my dps tumblr is @dead-poets-apprentice, check it out if you like!
> 
> thanks again, and please comment if you want!!


End file.
